IAADPInternational Association of
Assistance Dog Partners

NEW ZEALAND

How New Zealand Handles
Taxi Driver Access Denial

This story is reprinted with the permission of Guide
Dog Services - Royal New Zealand Foundation for the
Blind. Next to the article in their newsletter, they
reprinted a humorous cartoon that appeared in a leading
newspaper with a story about an access denial incident.

The cartoon by Peter Bromhead shows a lady holding up
a newspaper with its headline reading: "Taxi Driver
Refuses Fare With Guide Dog", while a passerby
comments "He was probably concerned that the guide
dog would point out the shortest route....!"

Guide Dogs Rights of Passage

A taxi driver who recently refused to carry a
Foundation member and her guide dog soon learned he
didn't have a leg to stand on.

While Bromhead captured the funny side as the
accompannying cartoon illustrates, it was a frustrating,
embarassing and unnecessary situation for the woman to
have been placed in.

Unfortunately, the Wellington cabbie wasn't alone in
his ignorance of the law. Several other cases have since
been reported to the Foundation by members.

When a guide dog is denied access to public transport
or a public place, then so is his owner. That is a
serious human rights infringement, which is why the law
makes a special case for guide dogs and states very
clearly where they are able to go.

The Dog Control and Hydatids Act 1982 spells out that
a guide dog (either working or in training) has the right
to go anywhere his or her owner can go either free or for
a charge.

This includes aircraft, hovercraft, ferries or other
vessels, and trains and vehicles carrying passengers for
reward - like taxis or buses.

Anyone who breaches the law could face a jail sentence
of up to a year. In the recent Wellington taxi driver's
case it was a $150 dollar fine from the Land Transport
Safety Authority and an embarassing few minutes on the
Holmes Show.

It is quite easy to tell the difference between a
guide dog and a pet - all Guide Dog Services dogs were
distinctive white (once graduated) or brown (in training)
harnesses. Young adult dogs being socialized wear the
unmistakable bright red Champ coats and all breeding
stock wear bright blue coats.

Next time you see a guide dog at a restaurant or a
park or bus, remember, it has the same right as you do to
be there!